Dakara Ame wo Kirawanaide
by Chibi Yachiru-chan
Summary: [So Don't Hate the Rain] Kuchiki Byakuya was already having a bad day when he encountered the brat in Inuzuri. Now Hisana's memories seem to be springing up everywhere and he realizes there might be a lot more to their past then he understood. Words simply can have more meanings than one. [Byakuya/OC father-daughter complications. ByaSana past romance if you squint hard enough]


**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**A/N: I'm up to more uselessness, well aware of the fact that other fics need updating. But motivation evades my mind. Forever. I realized I'd started writing a future fanfic with the second generation of Bleach characters and this little story had been in my head a long, long time. I'm just a crazy fangirl up to crazy fanfic ideas all the time. And since I love experimenting with Byakuya in all kinds of relationships, I couldn't miss the fact that he'd make the most awkward/sly/protective/caring/clueless/adorable father. We've already seen that with Rukia. But a **_**daughter**_**… that would be F-U-U-U-U-N.**

**A pause to my babble here. Read on…**

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Stolen

Trudging the filthy Rukongai streets on foot, for the hundredth time Kuchiki Byakuya cursed in his head. Somebody as important as a captain shouldn't have been sent for such a measly job in the pathetic district. Besides everything else, his eyes kept darting around to places that'd been so preserved in his memory. He was in Inuzuri, 78th district of Rukon. Here was the riverside where he'd met Hisana for the first time. There, around the corner was a shop that sold her favorite flowers that grew only in Inuzuri. Two streets down was a little shack where Hisana had lived. He walked on. Here was the place he'd saved Hisana from some petty thugs after she'd fainted. Here was the street she said she'd abandoned Rukia in. Here… and there. Hisana was everywhere. Even though everything had changed so much in these fifty years, nostalgia was the word of the day. And hate. He hated Rukongai. Inuzuri in particular. Hisana had struggled here for around a hundred years. It had given her nothing but pain.

And then there was the issue of all the dirt on the streets, in the air, on the very people who lay around sloppily and eyed him curiously as he trudged and trudged, avoiding the filth that still got on him anyway. He'd have to discard the current pair of uniform once he went back to Seireitei. And scrub himself clean. A nobleman shouldn't really have to walk around in this pathetic place. But the job had to be done.

He scanned the visible radius, picking up the faint trail of reiatsu he'd been following. In the aftermath of a minor incident in Inuzuri, the ground situation had to be checked and reported back to the sou-taichou. How he'd ended up with the job, he was still not sure. He'd much rather be sitting back in his impeccable sixth division office and completing piles of paperwork. But he'd already finished with them while all other division captains had been too busy goofing off. Still, that did not justify why _he_ should be here.

Again, he cursed as his foot all but landed in a puddle full of muck. How the drains sprung up in the middle of the street, he was appalled to even think. Little snotty brats ran around blindly, giggling, wiping their noses on their sleeves, yelling incoherent names to each other. Tattered, worn away rags for clothes. No footwear. Tousled, messy hair. The orphaned, abandoned kids of Rukongai. Two of them brushed past him. More smudges of dirt on his white haori.

With a deepening frown, he decided to ignore it for now and continue walking further. At the end of the job, when he was ready to head back to the manor, he would buy some flowers for dear Hisana's shrine. With that thought easing his worked up mind a bit, he absently patted the little pocket only to realize the bag of coins wasn't there anymore. Alarmed, his gaze landed on the bunch of brats stealing glances at him while trying to tiptoe away. One cold glare and they were scattering away in all directions.

But he was the master of shunpo and they were just annoying little amateur thieves. He grabbed one midget by the back of the collar and picked him up. _Her_. It was a girl. Features eerily familiar yet a stranger. Short black hair. Steel gray eyes. Cold, cold glare. The demeanor almost made him drop her back but he held on.

"Nandayo, ossan?" she spat, trying to reach back at his hand to free herself. "Hanase."

Ossan? How old did he look? With a scowl, he held up the other hand to her and gestured.

"What?" she scowled even harder, but dangling from the back of her rag, she didn't look all that menacing.

"My money," he said flatly. "Give it back."

"I don't have any," she said, clawing at the collar but not quite reaching the hand that held it so firmly.

"You stole it," he said.

"Then search me," she deadpanned back, crossing her arms and just glaring. "I'm not some filthy little thief."

He looked over at her wiry frame covered in the tattered sack-like dress. She couldn't have concealed anything in there. Then he stared at her fist that was clenched tight and tried to force it open.

"Let go. Let go of me, shinigami ossan," she struggled again, trying to keep whatever she was hiding concealed in both hands but it was so fruitless. He was even stronger than he looked. The little treasure she'd been holding onto slipped and landed near his feet.

"My locket," the little girl screeched, trying to stretch her hands down to reach it desperately.

Staring intently at the violet-blue stone attached to a little chain, the Kuchiki lord found himself suddenly distraught, as if his mind was trying to fill in a little blank in his memory. That short hesitation was enough for her to spring a surprise attack. With a deep draw of breath, she gathered the little spiritual pressure she had and blasted the bright ball into his face. Blinded _and_ distraught, he let go of her collar and staggered back, just catching himself in time to avoid landing embarrassingly on his butt. The midget grabbed the opportunity and swooped down on the locket before running off as fast as she could.

He blinked, only then realizing how unbelievably widened his eyes had been. Overcoming the shock took more time than he could have afforded. The brat had disappeared. He could trace her reiatsu but it was very, very faint. Concealed, in fact. There was no way a lay person could have performed that little trick with such ease. There was definitely more to her than was apparent.

But the image of the violet-blue stone falling and landing with the muffled clink kept playing over and over. He could not shake it off. In excruciating detail, the locket fell in slow motion again and again. The exact violet with a tint of blue that was… it took a while to click together… the color of Hisana's eyes. It was the violet-blue of Hisana's ocean eyes. He hadn't remembered carrying it around with him all this while. He hadn't even seen the locket in decades. In his manor, in Hisana's meager belongings, in his own muddy memory… the little article had been stacked away and forgotten forever. Until it fell right in front of his eyes.

Had the brat really stolen it? But it shouldn't have been there with him in the first place. For all he knew, his sight could have been deceived. He shook his head imperceptibly again, feeling the weight of seconds ticking away. First, he needed to pull himself together. He closed his eyes, then opened them back up slowly. The image did not leave him. He'd seen it way too clearly. The vivid violet with specks of blue.

One thing he knew for certain… the little stone locket belonged to him.

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**A/N: Short chapter but that was all I could get around to writing for now. More about the mysterious brat in the upcoming chapters. I'm just hoping my wandering motivation-san stays. Except this and Let Me Be, Let Me Be, I think I'm gonna drop all the other fanfics for now *sigh* this is not fair.**

**Anyway please leave a review? Motivation-san needs some!**


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